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Need to import massive amounts of temporary staff from abroad to pick their fruit and veg apparently. Try offering a decent wage to the tens of thousands of currently unemployed Brits instead of importing cheap labour. 
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Replies: 39
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fear not for i am a gang master and i have thousands of strawberry pickers flying in from wuhan to help out
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unemployed Brits won't do the work .
time for a sensible approach ...pay the unemployed to pick them but allowing them to have a decent standard of living . Pay per work done so not complying to any daft minimum wage issues ...pickers maybe able to earn up to 200 a week say we will call it an Incentive pay money into accounts ,pay housing benefit and council tax but not JSA ...see how it goes |
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Cant the newly released prisoners pick them
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The way this is Going the only things being picked will be Noses
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or serving prisoners
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Fackin Farmers stinking my Village out again how the fook do they get away with it?
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i've done fruit picking and it's hard work ... the ladies who used to do it full time were highly skilled pickers ... some actually earned OK money doing it ..
aslo getting stung by wasps frequently ain't much fun |
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Great opportunity for UK kids to get some pocket money. I picked strawberries and apples years ago. Strawberries is back breaking but it learns you about the real world.
They’re too busy taking gap years in Phuket and surfing in Newquay. |
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Get orf moi fooking land.
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Yeah I picked Potatoes for a Farmer when I was a Kid, broke my back for a Full Day and he handed me two and six I nearly cried....Had a grudge against Farmers ever since.
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They love theor animals apparently,especially with roast potatoes..
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Farmers are a Pain in the Arris
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acey
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before anyone,anywhere rings,
NOT WITH MY FOOOOOOOKING BACK |
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there's plenty of the incoming work force in sheffield but wonder if they can shift their butts after finding the welfare office
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By:
acey deucy • March 30, 2020 5:22 PM BST
broke my back for a Full Day and he handed me two and six I nearly cried.... -- Rookie mistake. Everyone knows when bending over for money, you should make sure you get it up front. |
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J.C I was expecting at least a fiver even back then.
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I was bent over for a bit doing some DIY a couple of months ago and my lower back cramped. I think my potato picking days are now over.
But from what I've seen of modern fruit farms while they are still labour intensive it's not nearly so back breaking. Like strawberries raised up to a nice height on hydroponics in a polytunnel, not at worm height in the rain. The wage is above minimum wage as well, you can apparently good pickers can earn a fair bit more, and that was before supply/demand shifted in favour of the picker. It wouldn't say much for our country if we can't get anyone to do such jobs as we're all too good for it now, assuming lockdown can be lessened. |
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seen some footage of asparagus picking your sat in something that looks like a rickshaw
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tatty picking back in the day was backbreaking but that was only half the problem the gang leader whacking you with a stick didn't help,
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40/50 years ago 30 young lads in the back of a wooden sided pick up lorry trundling along shopite roads was like leaving home for days,but with todays cars,road infrastructure was probably only 15 mins up the road,
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Potato picking was a real killer on yer back we used to pray for the tractor to break down so we could have a rest.
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Walofs
Not once have I head a journalist ask a farmer what the pay is for this highly skilled and important job! |
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minim,um wage same as cleaners,porters,bin men, etc doing their best to help save lives at present
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I think it will be a serious problem.
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Seasonal workers from Europe are so important because fruit and veg is a very labour intensive sector – and because it’s nigh-on impossible to find Brits willing to do the job.
At least that’s what growers claim. So why exactly is it so hard to hire Brits for farm jobs? We look at the key factors - and challenge a few myths. It’s the money, stupid Many believe there’s a simple explanation: money. Growers pay a pittance and only workers from deprived parts of Eastern Europe are desperate enough to accept their poverty wages, they argue. If growers paid decent money, they’d be able to hire British workers. But what’s the reality? There are no official figures for average wage rates, but feedback from the industry suggests the average wage for fruit pickers typically sits at or just above the national living wage (currently £7.50), with opportunities to earn more dependent on hours worked and productivity bonuses. Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, puts average pay at between £8.50 and £10.00 depending on speed of work, while Steven Munday, CEO of trade body British Apples & Pears, says in his sector it is on average £300 and £350 a week based on 40 hours worked at £7.50 to £9. “Many can earn more by doing up to 60 hours or piece work. We have a good number earning over £500 per week on a 48-hour week,” he adds. Supervisors also earn more. |
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so its piece work inexperienced getting least,getting worst jobs etc,etc,thats a big turn off for starters,
no I in team T ogether E veryone A chieves M ore, on balance tell,m to RAM IT |
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Then the farmer takes half it off them for board and lodging.
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Eight in a derelict caravan, that'll be £150 per week sir.
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, bloke near me has a ship repair business wont employ uk lads has 40/50 Ukrainians,but they spend best part of an hr leaving boat having a 20 min break and getting back on boat,before their half shift in 12 hr shift so employed someone to cook them egg and chips in the ships galley to keep them on board for 20 min tea break, happy to report the greedy kooont went bankrupt a few months back, ,they were known locally as the egg n chip squad, |
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Easy solution.
For all those 18-30s claiming asylum, once you’ve had the interview, checks etc , you have to do one years fruit and veg picking. Any that refuse or don’t do the year get deported. Bit like a modern national service. |
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Good idea! Need something in the winter. Litter picking?
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and it is not “ easy “ work. If you are going to work that hard you would want to be paid more for it.
I too do believe it will be a serious problem this summer and Autumn and of course the Government have not got a scooby. The only hope is some people will be desperate fir food and money. The other thing of course with the move away from the land it can be a trek to get to some farms. A very long unpaid walk or a risky drive in a clapped out uninsured car for others. Pay will have to go up and so will prices. Then w3 shall see how much sympathy there is for pickers! I have to sat though I would have to be desperate or hungry to be a picker! I think our crims and lifestyle benefit people should be encouraged to pick. Anyone on the chat for more than 6 months or even 12 should be offered incentives! Coaches could be arranged to pick them up and drop them off. |
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About time we paid more for fresh veg and fruit anyway.
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I will happily do so if it's grown here.
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Yes absolutely
Food is so cheap in this country. I cannot believe how much food is thrown away it is sinful. Not only do people not know how to cook with leftovers they thrown stuff out still fresh in the packet. |
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food is so cheap correct as me and so called remoners have been dsaying for 4 years but brexiteers reckon they can strike deals with American agri foods and transport chicken half way round the world,sell it cheaper here and everyone makes a tidy sum, when you can already buy it here for pennies,
no deals with china food all ready to cheap here brexiteers becoming remoaners by the day, |
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you think some of our crims should do the picking - there's a lot of imported already taking the pickings up and down motorways and in the shops 'shopping' they seem to be quite a lot of them around
too busy to work in the fields |